I always had a certain amount of empathy for the Phoenix Suns during the Steve Nash-Amar'e Stoudemire-Shawn Marion era. They had some excellent teams back then, but the deck seemed stack against the small-market team going against the Lakers and superbly-coached Spurs.
Now the Suns are making the old Washington Generals look like the Golden State Warriors. There was a lot of forum and Twitter talk yesterday about taking the points with Phoenix against the Los Angeles Clippers. That would have been a serious mistake. The Suns were obliterated, 124-84. At one point in that Clippers loss, the Suns' lineup consisted of Phil Pressey, Archie Goodwin, Sonny Weems, P.J. Tucker and Alex Len - and that was when the Suns played their best ball of the evening. I'd love to have those guys on my team - if I were playing a pick-up game in my neighborhood.
The Suns have never had a worst stretch than they are enduring now, which is 27 losses in their last 29 games. They have dropped 12 in a row. Phoenix is at its most brutal on the road where it has lost 15 consecutive times. The Suns are 7-20 ATS away from home, failing to cover during their last 10 road contests.
Phoenix is helpless on defense with center Tyson Chandler out with a shoulder bruise. The Suns have surrendered at least 112 points in five consecutive games. Their offense is hopeless without their top four scorers, three of whom are out with injury and the fourth traded. The month still has another week and already the Suns have had four sub-40 percent shooting February games.
The Suns' main goal right now - whether they admit it or not - is to improve their lottery chances by tanking. So it will be interesting to see how the Suns perform in their next game, which is at home Thursday against Brooklyn, another bottom-four team. StubHub has upper-seats available for $7. The Suns' website has tickets for $15. Sorry, but no thanks.
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Paul Chirimbes |
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